UC BERKELEY ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES RE-ENROLLMENT POLICY

University of California, Berkeley Re-enrollment Students considering withdrawing should familiarize themselves with the readmission and re- enrollment policies provided in the Guide to Graduate Policy. More information about these policies can be found HERE.

RLL PhD Program Re-Enrollment Policy as of April 20, 2026

-The following process considers students who have withdrawn from the university, with the exception of students re-enrolling from a semester on filing fee.The withdrawn student will signal, in writing (by e-mail), their desire to apply for re-enrollment. Students intending to return to the program should make efforts to contact appropriate faculty as part of the application process, and are encouraged to seek explicit guidance from appropriate faculty as regards RLL milestones (Article Presentation, Qualifying Exam, etc.).

–For students who have been away from the University for 6 or more years, their re-enrollment requires completing the same online application required of first-time applicants to the program. In their research statement and personal narrative documents, the student should explicitly outline concrete plans for completing remaining milestones (such as the Article Presentation, Qualifying Exams, etc.). Additionally, the student should include a writing sample from a course previously completed during their time in the program.

–For students who have been away from the University for 5 or fewer years, the Executive Director or Graduate Student Affairs Officer will request the student to submit a 2-page, double-spaced statement of purpose and a piece of written work to support their application, in lieu of completing the online application. The Program recommends submitting a piece of work done while they were still in the RLL Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley. The work should support the application by, for example, illustrating their interest in the questions outlined in the statement of purpose or showing their ability to use some of the methods required for the project described. Additionally, students must include a letter of support from a current Berkeley RLL faculty member with relevant interests (submitted directly to the Executive Director from the faculty member).

-The student will submit their application for re-enrollment by the same deadline as the one given to applicants for the following academic year admission cycle.

-The Executive Committee will meet to discuss the application. As in the annual meeting on graduate student progress, the faculty will consider the student’s academic progress in the program, as well as their seminar and teaching evaluations. Subsequently, the faculty will make a recommendation to accept or dismiss the student’s re-enrollment application.

-The RLL Executive Committee, charged with review of graduate admissions, will make the final decision as the withdrawn student’s application will be considered alongside other applications to the program for the following academic year. If the application is successful, the student will receive a detailed memo from the Director of the Executive Committee indicating that fact, as well as the information normally provided in the annual progress letter outlining the requirements which have been met and the requirements/expectations which must still be met to earn the degree in the Ph.D. program in Romance Languages and Literatures. In addition, the memo will outline the student’s remaining department funding (if applicable) or expectations from the Department about how the student will fund themselves (e.g., GSI each semester).

-The student will have ten (10) days to respond in acceptance or rejection to the Executive Director’s e-mail regarding the conditions of re-enrollment.